Went to Milwaukee last weekend, with hopes of getting more use of my Kiev 4A. Unfortunately, I didn't have any B&W film in my bag. No worries, I figured I could just pick some up while I was out there. I made my usual antique store stops, and then made my way over to Mike Crivello's in Brookfield. They always have some great deals on just-expired film (as in, just expired last month!), and this visit was no different. I picked up a 5-pack of Provia in 120 format for $12, as well as several rolls of Velvia 50 for $3 each. In the midst of that excitement, I somehow managed to forget some B&W.

Those who have ever driven anywhere with me will know that I don't like driving in the opposite direction of where I'm heading. Another camera store (Art's on 76th St) was a little out of the way, but at least I wouldn't have to back-track. I asked for a couple rolls of Plus-X, and was shocked to hear my total come to $20! I knew that Freestyle sells rebranded Plus-X for just over $2/roll, and knowing that made this even more painful.

I do try to buy film from local stores when possible, just because that's a service I really don't want to see disappear. Most of the time, prices are reasonable. On the other hand, for $20, I can almost get an entire 100' bulk roll from Freestyle. I'll continue to use these stores, but if the price of the emulsion I'm looking for is too out of hand, I'm going to have to hold off.

On an unrelated note, I just loaded my last roll of Kodachrome a few days ago. I'm only about half way through, but already anxious to see the results. Hell, I might even skip the cheap WalMart-Dwayne's proxy* to get it back sooner!

* If you weren't aware, you can get really cheap processing of certain types of film via Wal-Mart's dropoff kiosks. It is never touched by Wal-Mart employees, they just send it out to Fuji Labs. They charge 90 cents for 120 and 220 C-41 processing, and $5 for 35mm E6 and Kodachrome. In the case of Kodachrome, Fuji just passes it along to Dwayne's, and then passes their bulk discount on to the customer. Its a great deal, if you can deal with the two-weak turnaround.